Gun and sight mounting



Dec. 3, 1946. J, c, TROTTER 2,412,109

GUN AND SIGHT MOUNTING Filed Dec. 5, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

INVENTOR John TroH'er ATTO R N EYS Dec. 3, 1946. J, C TR T TER' 2,412,109-

GUN AND SIGHT MOUNTING Filed Deb. 5, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet Fig. Z.v

lNVNTOR x John 9. TroHer Y ATTO RN EY$ Patented Dec. 3, 1946 UNITED STATES GUN AND SIGHT MOUNTING John C. Trotter, Burlington, Vt, assignor to Bell Aircraft Corporation, Buifalo, N. Y.

Application December 3, 1943, Serial No. 512,754

4 Claims. (Cl. 89-375) This invention relates to ordnance, and more particularly to gun mounts and associated ammunition feed arrangements.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a new and improved plural gun mount arrangement permitting relatively wide range adjustments of the gun battery aim both in elevation and in azimuth. Another object of the invention is to provide agun'mount arrangement of the character described which is of improved compactness and structural ruggedness, and so constructed as to be adapted to maintain the guns in steady supported relation despite the relatively wide angles of permissible gun aim adjustment range. Another object of the invention is to provide a gun mount device of the character described which is adapted to be assembled as a single compact unit which is suitable to be attached to a carrying vehicle or the like and detached therefrom for servicing purposes with improved facility. Another object of the invention is to provide an improved gun battery arrangement of the character described which also embodies improved ammunition storage and feeding means, whereby a relatively large supply of ammunition may be stored in conjunction with the guns of the battery and feed thereto without assistance from an ammunition feed booster device or the like. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the specification hereinafter.

In the'drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a gun mount and ammunition magazine arrangement of the invention, shown in conjunction with a twin arrangement of machinevguns and carried at the nose or tail portion of an aircraft or other vehicle or the like;

' Fig. 2 is a top plan of the gun mount and magazine arrangement of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view thereof; and P Fig. 4 isan enlarged vertical section of the 'aim sight mechanism.

In the drawings the invention is illustrated in the form of a gun mount and ammunition magazine arrangement in conjunction with a pair of "twin guns of the conventional machine gun type as are illustrated at ll0; the gun battery being shown mounted uponthe nose 'or tail end portion of an aircraft or other vehicle body as indicated at H. shown as'comprising a lower bracket l4 arranged tobe 'deta'chablyconnected to and to extend rigidly from any suitable', framing structure of the vehicle, such as isindicated at l5 of Fig. 1,

2 whereby the bracket l4 projects therefrom to support the gun battery as an independent unit exteriorly of the mounting vehicle and in closely connected and generally streamlined relation therewith. An upper bracket l6 (Fig. 1) is also provided to be firmly attached to a. correspondingly positioned framing portion I8 of the mounting vehicle structure.

A central post 20 extending between the lower and upper brackets l4l6 is mounted thereon by means of bearing connections at 22-24, whereby the post 20 is supported upontne mounting vehicle in a vertical attitude and centrally of the gun battery position andso as to be freely rotatable about the vertically aligned axes of the bearings 2224, Intermediately of its length the post 20 is laterally enlarged as indicated at 26 and transversely flattened to provide a rigid gun mount post 'of minimum thickness transversely of the gun direction. The post 20 is recessed as indicated at 28 to accommodate in nested relation therein the outer case of a vane piston type hydraulic motor as indicated at 30; the motor case 30 being of a thickness dimension generallyequal to that of the post 20 and being segmentally shaped in side view with the apex portion thereof occupying the region of the center of rotation of the gun battery for elevational aim adjustment purposes.

The piston of the motor case 30 is keyed to a cross shaft 32 (Figs. 1 and 2) which extends at its opposite ends exteriorly of the motor case and thence downwardly to form in effect a pair of opposite stirrup arms 34-34 which fixedly engage upon corresponding inner rod members '36-36 of a gun mount frame which is designated generally at 40. The gun mount frame 40 comprises a group of four rods arranged in parallel relation and comprising a pair of outer rods 4242 in addition to the inner rods 38-46. The

rods 36-4Z are interconnected at their front E slide brackets 48-49 extending from rear and The gun mount structure is front end portions of the guns; the brackets 48-49 being slidably mounted upon corresponding pairs of the rods 3642. Hence, the guns are independently reciprocable relative to the frame M in directions longitudinally of the guns for recoil shock absorbing purposes. Hydraulicpneumatic shock absorber devices, as indicated at 50, are connected between movable bracket and fixed bracket portions of each gun mount arrangement to cushion the shocks of the gun recoil forces and to provide counter-recoil movements of the guns.

Thus, it will be understood that the guns lI0 are carried upon the frame M] in such manner as to be individually reciprocable relative to the frame in connection with their respective recoil and counter-recoil movements, whereby the frame will be relieved of Violent recoil forces such as are usually imposed upon a gun carriage. The frame is rotatably mounted by means of the cross shaft 32 upon the motor case 30 which is fixed to the center post 20, whereby the gun battery is freely rotatable about the horizontal axis of the shaft 32 for gun elevational aiming purposes, while the center post 20 is freely rotatable about its vertical axisfor azi muth adjustments of the gun battery aim.

Disposed at each side of the gun battery, and aligned generally parallel to a respective one oftheguns is mounted an ammunition magazine 55. The magazines 55- -55 are alike and are of drum-like formation and are mounted to' re mainat all times parallel to the guns and to rotate therewith in connection with both azimuth and elevational aim adjustments of the guns. To this end a frame comprismg alovver cross bar 56; an upper cross bar 58; side members 59 and interior vertical members 60 6 0 are provided to carry bearing devices at B2 to support stub shaft members extending from opposite sides of the magazine drums 5555. Thus, theframe carries the drums to rotate with the gun battery in connection with azimuth adjustments thereof, While at thesame time the drumsare free to rotate with the guns relative to the frame work in connection With elevational aim adjustments of the gun battery. suitable links extending between the gun mount frame 40 and the magazine dru'ms55-55 synchronize rotations thereof in connection with the elevational aim adjustments of the gun battery.

The magazines 55-55 are formed with ammunition belt outlet ports 65 455 at the top porit will be understood that ammunition belts may be compactly nested interi'orly of the magazines so as to fill the latter and to train therefrom through the outlet ports 56-56 into the closely positioned ammunition feedway mechanisms of the associated guns. It will be appreciated that due to the fact that the ammunition supply for each gun is compactly nested in the region of the horizontal axis of the gun battery and close to gun ammunition feedways, the pull forces required to feed the ammunition to the guns are always at a minimum, and that the directions of twisting of the ammunition belts While feeding the guns remain the same at all times.

A motor device is carried by the support bracket I6, as indicated at I0 (Fig; 1) and may conveniently comprise a second hydraulic motor of the vane piston type as employed at 30. Thus, the 7 motor 10 will comprise an outer casing which is fixed by the bracket l6 to be stationary relative to the frame of the mounting vehicle, and the piston element of the motor I0 will be keyed to the upper end of the center post 20. Hence, application of fluid pressure forces at opposite'sides of the pistons of the motors 30-10 will procure corresponding oscillations of the gun frame 40 and the center post 20 to control, re-' spectively, the elevational and azimuth aim positions of the gun battery. As indicated at I5, a suitable motor driven hydraulic pump device may be mounted upon the vehicle I2 and arranged to be controlled by a valve mechanism I6 which is manually operable by a control handle TI arranged within convenient reach of the gun operator. The pump device I5 will be connected to the motor devices 30-40 by suitable hydraulic conduits, as is well known in the hydraulic motor art; and thus it Will be appreciated that through manipulations of the control handle T1 the gunner will have full selective control of the motors 30I0 so as to operate the latter to selectively adjust the gun battery aim' both in elevation and in azimuth at will.

A gun sight device as indicated at 80 may be conveniently arranged in conjunction with the gun battery and may be mounted by means of a bracket 8I carried by a shaft 82 extending transversely of the upper end of a un sight frame 83 which pivots at its lower end upon a cross shaft 84. The shaft84 is carried by a yoke 85 which is in turn pivotally mounted in a vertical bearing 86 supported by the stationary structure I8 of the mounting vehicle. Thus, the entire sight mount is rotatable about the axis of the bearing 86 forazimuth aim adjustments, and the upper portion of said gun sight frame portion 83 and thesight-carryingbracket Bl are both rotatable upon horizontal axes for elevational aim adjustments.

The yoke 85 carries a sprocket 81 which is geared by means of a suitable endless chain or the like to a corresponding sprocket 88 carried by the upper end of the post 20, whereby rotation of the post 20 upon the bearings 22-24 will cause the sprocket 8'!- to turn the sightcarryin yoke 85 for adjustments of the sight aim in consonance with azimuth adjustments of the aim of the gun battery. A vertical shaft 89 is carried within the upper portion of the post 20 and carries at its lower end a bevel gear 90 and at its upper end a sprocket 9|. The bevel gear 90 is geared to a crank arm 92 which eX- tends from the gun mount frame 40 eccentrically of the horizontal axis of rotation thereof by means of a gear 93; a strut 94; and an arm 96. An endless chain or the like interconnects the sprocket 9i and a sprocket I00 (-Fig. 4) carried by a shaft I02 within the yoke 85 and concentrically of the bearing 80. The shaft I02 carries a bevel gear I03 which meshes with a gear I04 whichis keyed to the sight frame 83 by bolts I05. A spur gear segment I06 is mounted concentrically of the shaft 84 and is keyed to the yoke 85 as at I01, and the gun sight frame 83 carries a train of meshed gears I08- I08 upon bearings I'M-I09 which interconnect the gear I06 and an oppositely disposed gear I I0 carried by the top shaft 82 and keyed thereto as at I I I. Thesha-ft 82 is in turn keyed to the sight bracket 81 by means of "pins II2' -II2; whereby it will be understood that movements of the gun carriage crank 92 will cause the bevel gear and sprocket mechanism to rotate the frame 03 about the shaft 84. This motion in turn causes the gear train I 08l 08 to tilt the gun sight frame and to drive the sight bracket 8| torotate relative to the frame 83, and the gear and chain devices are so arranged as to provide such total tilting movements of the sight 80 as to' maintain its line of sight at all times parallel-to the direction of elevational aim of the l- 'sfi i -In this manner it is arranged that the sight tUwill-shift' automatically both bodily and angularly relative to the position of the gunners head in connection with adjustments of the gun elevational aim whereby to require less strains It will be appreciated that the invention pro- 7 vides a gun mount device wherein the elevational and'azimuth aim adjustment axes are disposed at the outermost positions of the supporting bracketdevices of the mounting vehicle, and that therefore maximum range of aim adjustments is available in all directions, while the gun mount supporting structure is of compact and structurally rugged form whereby to be adapted to maintain the mounted guns in steady supported relation. Hence, accuracy of gun fire and ease of operation of the battery is assured. As indicated at I28 a gun battery enclosure in the form of a generally spherical wall structure may be conveniently carried by the magazine supporting frame work, and will thus cooperate with the adjacent wall structures of the mounting vehicle to provide a smoothly faired or streamlined structure terminating in a hemispherical turret portion protruding beyond the rearmost limit of the mounting vehicle.

Although only one form of the invention has been shown and described in detail it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the inven tion is not so limited but that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a gun mount comprising a gun carriage, a central post mounted upon a fixed frame porition, said post mounting said carriage and rotatable therewith about a vertical axis for azimuthal aim adjustments of the gun carriage, a shaft mounted upon said post to be rotatable about a horizontal axis for elevational aim adjustments of the gun mount, a gun sight unit comprising in combination, a bracket adapted to carry a gun sight device, a gun sight frame supporting said bracket whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said frame about a first horizontal axis, a trunnion post mounted upon said frame portion to be rotatable about a vertical axis and pivotally engaging said frame whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said trunnion post about a second horizontal axis ofiset from said first horizontal axis, gear means interconnecting said trunnion post and said frame, second gear means interconnecting said frame and said bracket whereby pivotal movements of said frame relative to said trunnion post about said second horizontal axis operate said second gear means to drive said bracket to pivot relative to said frame about said first horizontal axis, motion transmitting means connecting said gun carriage to said trunnion post for pivoting said frame about said second horizontal axis coincidentally with the elevational aim adjustment of said gun carriage, and motion transmitting means interconnecting said central post and said frame for rotating the latter about its vertical axis coincidentally with the rotations of said gun mount carriage about the vertical axis of said central post.-

2. In combination, a gun mount comprising a gun carriage having dual guns mounted thereon in spaced parallel relation, a central post extending vertically between said guns and mounted upon a fixed frame portion, said central post supporting said carriage for rotation therewith about a vertical axis for azimuthal aim adjustments of the gun carriage, a shaft mounting said post to be rotatable about a horizontal axis for elevational aim adjustments of the gun carriage, a gun sight unit comprising in combination a gun sight, a gun sight frame supporting said sight whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said frame about a'first-horizontal axis, a trunnion post mounted upon said frame portion at a'position substantially directly over the position of said central post and to be rotatable about a vertical axis, said trunnion post pivotally engaging said frame whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said trunnion post about a second horizontal axis offset from said first horizontal axis, transmission means interconnecting said trunnion post and said frame, second transmission means interconnecting said frame and said sight whereby pivotal movements of said frame relative to said trunnion post operate said second means to drive said sight to pivot relative to said frame, motion transmitting means connecting said gun carriage to said frame for pivoting the latter about said second horizontal axis relative to said trunnion post coincidentally with the pivoting of said gun carriage, and motion transmitting means interconnecting said central post and said trunnion post for rotating the latter about its vertical axis coincidentally with rotations of said gun carriage about the vertical axis of said central post.

3. In combination, a gun battery comprising a gun mounted on a carriage, a central post mounted upon a fixed frame portion, said central post mounting said carriage and rotatable therewith about a vertical axis for azimuthal aim adjustments of the gun carriage, a shaft mounting said central post to be rotatable about a horizontal axis for elevational aim adjustments of the gun mount, a gun sight unit comprising in combination a bracket carrying a gun sight, a gun sight frame supporting said bracket whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said frame about a first horizontal axis, a trunnion post engaging said frame whereby the latter is pivotable relative to said trunnion post about a second horizontal axis offset from said first horizontal axis, gear means interconnecting. said trunnion post and said frame, second gear means interconnecting said frame and said bracket whereby pivotal movements of said frame relative to said trunnion post operate said second gear means to drive said bracket to pivot relative to said frame, motion transmitting means connecting said gun carriage to said frame for pivoting the latter relative to said trunnion post about said second horizontal axis coincidentally with elevational pivoting of said gun carriage, motion transmitting means interconnecting said central post and said trunnion post for rotating the latter about its vertical axis coincidentally with rotations of said gun mount carriage about the vertical axis of said central post, motor means for driving said carriage to rotate relative to said central post and said central post to rotate relative to said frame portion,

2&1251 09 and con r l eans fo aid motor means carried by said f ame por on at position c ea of the rbit of swing f id n b te nd lo ely adjacent thereto whereby an operator may peer through said sight and manipulate said control means while being positionedclear, of said battery.

4. In combination, a gun mount comprising a gun carriage, a central post mounted upon a fixed frame'portion, said post mounting said carriage and rotatable therewith about a vertical axis for azimuthal aim adjustments of the gun carriage, a shaft mounted upon said post to' be rotatable about a horizontal axis for elevational aim adjustments of the gun mount a gun sight unit comprising in combination, a bracket adapt ed to carry a gun sight device, a gun sight frame supp rtin Sa d et wh e th a te is pivotable relative to said frameabout a firsthorizontal axis, a yoke, carriedby said frame portion and pivotable about a vertical axis, said frame being pivota ly attached to said yoke about a '8 s ond h r o ala is f set v ro n a st he izontal axis, a trunnion post pivotally carried-bi! said yoke and having its axis coincident with the yoke axis, ear means interconnecting said trunnion post and said frame, second gear means in terconnecting saidyoke and said bracket whereby pivotal movements of said frame relative to said trunnion post about said second horizontal axis operate said second gear means to drive said bracket to pivot relative to said frame about said first horizontal axis, motion transmitting means connecting said guncarriage to said trunnion post for pivoting said frame about said second horizontal axis coincidentally with the elevational aim adjustment of said gun carriage, and motion transmitting means interconnecting said central post and said yoke for rotating the latter about its vertical axis coincidentally with the rotations of said un mount carriage about the vertical axis of said central post.

' JOHN C. TROTTER. 

